A thin semiconductor silicon chip is manufactured, for example, in a method as follows: (i) a high purity single crystal silicon or the like is sliced to a wafer form, (ii) a predetermined circuit pattern is formed on a surface of the wafer by photoresist, (iii) a back surface of the semiconductor wafer thus obtained is subjected to grinding, and (iv) after the semiconductor wafer is grinded to a predetermined thickness, the semiconductor wafer is diced so as to form a chip shape. In such a manufacturing process, the thin wafer itself is fragile and easily breakable; hence, it is necessary to reinforce the thin wafer. Furthermore, it is also necessary to prevent the circuit pattern formed on the surface of the wafer from being contaminated due to grinding dust and the like generated in the grinding process. Methods such as the following are known as methods of preventing the breakage of the wafer and protecting the circuit pattern provided on the surface of the wafer: a method in which the wafer is grinded in a state in which the supporting body is temporally fastened to the adhesive layer, and thereafter the supporting body is stripped off (see for example Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2); and a method in which the wafer is grinded in a state in which an adhesive film having an adhesive layer is adhered on the surface of the wafer on which the circuit pattern is provided, and thereafter the adhesive film is stripped off (see for example Patent Literature 3 and Patent Literature 4).
In recent years, demands have been increasing for achievement of small sized, thin, and highly functioned electronic apparatuses. In this trend, in replacement of the wire bonding technique that conventionally has been the main current as a wiring technique for connecting electrodes (bumps) and a circuit board in a System in Package (SiP) for example, a through-hole formation technique has been gaining attention as the wiring technique. The through-hole formation technique is a technique in which a chip formed with a through-hole electrode is stacked to form a bump on a back side of the chip. In order to employ the through-hole formation technique, it is necessary to manufacture a chip having a through-hole electrode, by forming a through-hole electrode on a semiconductor wafer which is grinded to a predetermined thickness. The forming of the through-hole electrode on the semiconductor wafer requires going through many processes, including high temperature processing and high vacuum processing.
If the grinding process is carried out in the methods disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 to 4 upon adhering the supporting body or adhesive film to the semiconductor wafer, and the through-hole electrode is formed thereafter, the adhesive layer becomes exposed to a high temperature while the semiconductor wafer is subjected to the process of forming the through-hole electrode. However, the adhesive used in the adhesive layer for temporally fastening the supporting body, and the adhesive used in the adhesive layer for adhering the adhesive film, each in the methods of Patent Literatures 1 to 4, do not have sufficient thermal resistance. As a result, problems occur caused by the adhesive layer being exposed to high temperature, such as that the resin of the adhesive layer deteriorates thereby causing a decrease in its adhesive strength, or that moisture absorbed by the adhesive layer evaporates as gas under the high temperature, which gas causes the adhesive layer to peel off at these bubbles of air, thereby causing poor adhesion. Furthermore, even when the adhesive layer is to be stripped off (the supporting body or adhesive film is stripped off), once the adhesive layer is exposed to high temperature, poor stripping easily occurs, such as having residue remaining when the adhesive layer is stripped off. Moreover, in a case where the forming of the through-hole electrode requires carrying out a process in a high temperature high vacuum environment, not only does the gas generated by decomposition of the adhesive layer itself in the high temperature and the gas generated from the moisture in the adhesive layer cause the poor adhesion as described above, but also these gases hinder the maintaining of the vacuum environment.
In view of the problems, an adhesive composition whose main component is a specific acrylic resin has been proposed as an adhesive composition which has good thermal resistance and which exhibits sufficient adhesive strength in a high temperature environment (see for example Patent Literature 5). Moreover, an adhesive composition containing (i) an alicyclic structure-containing polymer having a specific molecular weight and (ii) a low molecular weight compound having a specific molecular weight has been proposed as a thermally resistant adhesive resin composition, for use in adhering an electronic component and a substrate (Patent Literature 6).
Meanwhile, norbornene resin is known for its outstanding transparency, thermal resistance, low moisture absorbency, low birefringence, moldability, and the like; reports have been made which disclose that norbornene resin is used for optical disk substrates, and molding of optical films such as a phase difference compensating film and a polarizing plate protective film (for example, see Patent Literatures 7 to 9).